posted Sep 9th, 2018 - The weather situation at the USPA Nationals 2018 has become much better, and the teams are catching up after only two completed rounds on Saturday. In fact, blues skies, reliable winds and sufficient aircraft seem to guarantee a successful and timely conclusion of the AA/Intermediate Class competition on Sunday evening.

The Intermediate Class leaderboard is showing the expected exciting race for USPA medals. There was only a 1-point difference between the first four teams after Round 4, with changes of the positions round by round. It would be no surprise if the battle continued the same way throughout the whole 10-round meet.

Top contender TSC Cadence had the 1-point advantage after Round 4, and coach Eliana Rodriguez tries to keep the team on track while facing the tough opposition.

She has only limited time available at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center, as her own team tries to make a few practice jump before the start of the 4-way Open Class competition. Airspeed Odyssey is back with the same lineup at the USPA Nationals after the reunion comeback last year that the NSL News reported on 27 September 2017.

Airspeed Odyssey is one again as well trained as before the USPA Nationals 2017, which is next to completely untrained. However, they will have a few training jumps in the records, as the schedule and logistics of this year's event allow the AAA/Open/Advanced Class teams to get in the air during the AA/Intermediate Class competition.

The NSL-TV camera recorded the team's preparations for the first training jump on Saturday afternoon and the last actions in the boarding area. As usual, the Odyssey members were in a very relaxed mood and did not get distracted too much in front of the NSL-TV camera.

Eliana Rodriguez has been working with TSC Cadence in 2017 and 2018 and has guided the Carolina team to the top position in the AA/Intermediate Class. Craig Girard just came back from Australia where he was coaching the 8-way home team. He is also in charge of the Russian 8-way team from Tanay that he has been coaching for several months.

Odyssey finished in 5th place last year and will probably move up to 4th, as the Golden Knights are not competing in 4-way this year. In fact, it will most likely be the bronze medal position. NMP PCH HayaBusa was a guest team in 2017 and will not be in Illinois after posting a 27.6 average this weekend in Belgium. Airspeed lineups may win gold and bronze medals at the USPA Nationals 2018...

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,4,9	G,21,A,H	N,D,J,14	L,16,12	K,19,6	E,2,10	P,11,15	17,3,22	F,7,1	Q,5,M,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	31	33	28	23	25	23	23	22	31	31	270	27.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	32	29	22	24	22	21	23	29	29	258	25.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	31	28	23	22	20	23	19	28	29	252	25.2
4	Golden Knights	US	24	26	28	22	18	19	20	19	24	23	223	22.3
5	Airspeed Odyssey	US	25	23	27	19	22	19	19	17	23	23	217	21.7
6	Defiance	US	24	24	26	18	19	17	19	16	24	22	209	20.9
7	GKBC	US	24	19	24	15	17	17	18	16	23	20	193	19.3
8	Dallas 350	US	18	23	24	16	16	16	16	11	22	19	181	18.1
9	ISR FireFlash	BE	21	22	19	14	17	16	14	16	20	19	178	17.8
10	SDMW NEXT XP	US	15	25	17	17	15	16	16	15	23	14	173	17.3
11	Spaceland Lite	US	19	22	19	12	17	14	13	8	19	17	160	16.0
12	Phoenix XP	US	16	18	19	13	13	13	14	14	15	17	152	15.2
13	Long Shot	US	16	14	15	13	13	14	12	12	16	17	142	14.2
14	Arizona Alpha	US	17	17	11	12	14	13	12	13	17	12	138	13.8
15	Perris Quicksilver	US	15	17	12	11	11	13	12	10	16	13	130	13.0